Gombe state government has directed five out of the 27 private colleges of health technology shut down for accreditation in the state to resume studies.The Commissioner of Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, disclosed this in an interview with Daily Sun in Gombe.

He explained that the State Executive Council had in May inaugurated a committee to look into the proliferation of the colleges in the state which according to him was worrisome as most of the schools were operating without licenses and proper accreditation.He said, “When you want to establish a school there are guard lines and some basic standards you must meet for you to be accredited and if a school is not accredited when a student passes through such school, he may not get a license to practice.

So, when we receive reports and complaints from the public the committee invited all the schools, there are about 27”.The commissioner revealed that requirements in the checklist of the committee include the mood of registration, availability of adequate manpower, befitting laboratories, libraries and facilities, adequate classrooms, and a demonstration clinic among others.“At the moment we have been able to get about five that have qualified and we have already asked them to resume.

We have visited the schools in some communities such as Filiya, Bambam, Cham, Kumo, Billiri and Dukku, we will roundup with the schools in Gombe and other surrounding communities,” he said while stating that the visit was to physically verify the accreditation status of the schools and other things in the checklist.

The chairman revealed that in the cause of the visit the committee uncover that some of the colleges were operating with certificates issued by the cooperate affairs commission and that they lack proof of accreditation by relevant authorities. “We were surprised to see that some of the schools just registered with the cooperate affairs commission and that is all.This is a technical school where people are trained to provide health care. We won’t allow people to just open such schools for business and them to just earn money, even to open junior secondary schools and primary schools there are standards of things you need to get not to talk of where you are training people to handle lives,” he said

.He further revealed that the state government planned to ensure that standards are adhered to. “We want to make sure that in Gombe state standards are followed and we also want parents to get justification for the enormous fee they are paying to those schools. We will not allow somebody to graduate from a school that is not accredited who will not get a job because he won’t have a license to practice, then he will go be committing quackery”.

Source: The Sun